Rachmaninoff’s gigantic cello sonata (1901) is his most famous piece of chamber music, a concerto-like tour-de-force for both players. Its long, lyrical melodies, luminous textures and sounds of tolling bells owe a debt to music of the Russian Orthodox Church. By turns dark, blazing and triumphant, it is perhaps not too fanciful to hear the sonata as a parallel of Rachmaninov’s own struggle black to physical and mental health following a breakdown in 1897.
Two apparent ‘closures’ surround the sonata; an Epitaph and a Postlude by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. Epitaphum - strongly individual and deeply touching - was written in memory of the composer's wife who died in 1999. For Silvestrov, the creation of his Postludes represented a ‘collecting of echoes… a form opening not to the end, as is more usual, but to the beginning’. The 3rd Postlude (1982) is an elegiac miniature; music that seems to look back wistfully on music itself, with tenderness and regret.
Jonathan Aasgaard was appointed Principal Cello of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 1999 and has since performed more than 35 solo works with the orchestra. Chamber music performances have taken him to festivals in Europe, the Middle East, Japan, South Korea and the USA and he has given numerous premieres, including Carl Davis’ Ballade for cello and orchestra, the European premiere of Giovanni Sollima’s Concerto for two cellos, and the UK premiere of Weinberg’s Cello Concerto.
Ian Buckle maintains a varied freelance career working as soloist, accompanist, chamber musician, orchestral pianist and teacher. He enjoys longstanding associations with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the John Wilson Orchestra and has appeared with them as soloist on numerous occasions. He has been the pianist in Ensemble 10/10 since its inception and regularly plays orchestral piano in the BBC Philharmonic. Ian is the founder and pianist of the highly acclaimed Pixels Ensemble and is co-Artistic director of Stapleford Granary.